Help with newly-discovered aiptasia.

[ErikEdmund]

So I just found aiptasia in my nano tank. I noticed it about a month ago, smuggled in on a zoa frag, but was able to glue it in and figured it was taken care of. Apparently I was wrong. My wife noticed a different(?) anemone on the underside of the rockwork. It's not really bothering anything right now, and it's located where I can't get to it without ripping my entire tank apart.

My question is how to deal with it. I'm not particularly interested in Aiptasia-X or any of the similar products. Do peppermint shrimp work? My concern is that it's a 20 gallon tank (Red Sea Max Nano) and I've already got hermits and a pistol shrimp in there. I don't really know how much space I've got for one, and if they're even particularly effective in removing it. Are berghia nudibranchs overkill? My natural instinct is to go scorched earth and, if they'll eliminate it, I'm more than happy to pay for them. Any advice would be appreciated, as this is really affecting my peace of mind more than it ought to be lately. Thanks!

 

[KrisReef]

Peppermint and/or Berghia can work but neither comes with a garantee to eliminate all Aiptasia. I would lean towards a shrimp because they can scavenge on other food after the anemone is gone and will be there if another hitchhiker sneaks in. Berghia fall prey to easily and will starve after the Aiptasia are gone, but you may have to go that route if the Peppermint shrimp fails to perform. When either of these natural methods are working they are fairly rapid but as mentioned earlier neither solution comes with 100% removal rate before they are added. "Proof is in the pudding." I would add a shrimp and see how that goes.